Senate to vote on U.S. military role in Yemen amid anger over Saudi-led war, Khashoggi murder

President Donald Trump defended his decision not to punish Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman or cut arms sales to Saudi Arabia for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. insisting it would be "foolish" to cut ties. (Nov. 20)
AP

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is pushing for the U.S. to end all military support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. The Senate is expected to vote on his resolution, also sponsored by Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., this week.(Photo: Patrick Semansky, AP)

WASHINGTON – The Senate is poised to vote as early as Wednesday on a proposal to force the Trump administration to withdraw U.S. military support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen – a horrific conflict that has become increasingly controversial in the wake of Jamal Khashoggi’s murder inside a Saudi consulate last month.

Before the Senate takes up that measure, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis will deliver a classified briefing on Wednesday to senators on Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Khashoggi’s murder. That closed-door briefing could turn contentious, with lawmakers demanding the Trump administration take more aggressive action against Saudi Arabia for its role in the Washington Post columnist’s death.

Many lawmakers believe that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered Khashoggi’s murder, although the Saudi government has denied that and President Donald Trump has cast doubt on the CIA reported conclusions that the crown prince was involved. The administration has sanctioned 17 Saudi nationals it says were involved in Khashoggi’s killing, but Trump said last week that he does not want to mete out any additional punishment.

Pompeo and Mattis can expect fierce pushback on that position, and their answers to lawmakers could determine the fate of the Yemen war resolution.

“There’s got to be a price to pay for what has happened,” said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He said unless the two Cabinet secretaries spell out a more forceful response to Khashoggi’s death, he may vote in favor of ending U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen – a step he has opposed in the past.

The vote – which is expected to be close – presents a key test of lawmakers’ willingness to counter Trump on a major foreign policy matter.

Supporters say the measure is a vital step toward Congress reasserting its authority on matters of war after years of ceding such decisions to the president. It would also rebuke Saudi Arabia for its conduct in Yemen – which has sparked what UN officials say is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and led to thousands of civilian deaths.

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A Yemeni woman lies on a bed at a Cholera treatment center in Yemen's northwestern Hajjah province on April 20, 2019. Oxfam has warned that war-torn Yemen risks a "massive resurgence" of cholera, with around 195,000 suspected cases of the disease recorded so far this year. Essa Ahmed, AFP/Getty Images

A woman holds her cholera-infected child as he receives treatment at a cholera treatment center amid a cholera outbreak, in Sana'a, Yemen on April 20, 2019. According to reports, nearly 460 deaths of cholera have been registered in Yemen since the beginning of 2019 while more than 223 thousand suspected cases have been reported so far. Nearly a quarter of the cases of children are under five. Yahya Arhab, EPA-EFE

A Yemeni man holds plastic containers as he waits to collect water from a tank in the southwestern Yemeni city of Taez, on April 3, 2019. The war in Yemen has left thousands dead and triggered the world's worst humanitarian crisis, according to the United Nations. According to Action Contre la Faim 16 million people lack access to water and sanitation and basic health care. Fifty percent of Yemen's clinics are closed and more than 70 percent do not have a regular supply of medicine. Ahmad Al-Basha, AFP/Getty Images

A Yemeni medic treats a cholera-infected man at a cholera treatment center amid a rapidly spreading cholera outbreak, in Sana’a, Yemen on April 3, 2019. According to reports, more than 130 thousand cases of suspected cholera were reported with at least 200 associated deaths in the war-torn Arab country in the past three months in a fresh wave of a cholera outbreak, two years after Yemen witnessed the world's largest cholera outbreak when more than one million cases were reported. Yahya Arhab, EPA-EFE

A Yemeni child stands near a sewage swamp covered with waste at a neighborhood, creating a high-risk environment for cholera, amid a rapidly spreading cholera outbreak, in Sana'a, Yemen on April 1, 2019. According to reports, a new wave of a rapidly spreading cholera outbreak in Yemen is getting worse with 10 thousand new cases reported every week since the beginning of 2019, affecting almost 110 thousand people and killing over 200 people. Yahya Arhab, EPA-EFE

Yemeni children who fled fighting between Yemen's armed rebels, known as the Huthis, and pro-government forces in Bani Hasan near the border with Saudi Arabia, peek out of a tent at a makeshift camp in the district of Abs, in Yemen's northwestern Hajjah province on April 1, 2019. Essa Ahmed, AFP/Getty Images

An elderly woman is treated for suspected cholera infection at a hospital in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, March 28, 2019. A United Nations humanitarian agency said on Monday that Yemen has witnessed a sharp spike in the number of suspected cholera cases this year, as well as increased displacement in a northern province. Hani Mohammed, AP

A malnourished child receives medical attention at a malnutrition treatment center in Sana'a, Yemen on March 18, 2019. According to reports, over two million children in Yemen are suffering from acute malnutrition, including 400,000 severe acutely malnourished children fighting for their lives. Nearly 30,000 children under five die every year from diseases caused by the malnutrition in the war-torn Arab country. Yahya Arhab, EPA-EFE

In this file photo taken on Sept. 28, 2018 a Yemeni child suffering from malnutrition is weighed at a hospital in the district of Aslam in the northwestern Hajjah province. Four years after Saudi Arabia led a military intervention in Yemen to back the government against rebels, the only hope for peace in a country threatened by famine hangs on a fragile truce. Essa Ahmed, AFP/Getty Images

A severely malnourished boy rests on a hospital bed at the Aslam Health Center in Hajjah, Yemen, Oct. 1, 2018. The impoverished Arab country is experiencing a humanitarian crisis due to an ongoing brutal conflict that has lasted more than three years and driven millions to the brink of famine. Hani Mohammed, AP

Conflict-affected Yemenis gather to receive free bread by a local charity bakery amid a severe shortage of food in Sana'a, Yemen, Nov. 28, 2018. According to reports, nearly 22 million people of Yemen's 26 million population are in need of humanitarian assistance as a result of increased food scarcity. YAHYA ARHAB, EPA-EFE

A disabled Yemeni victim of the ongoing conflict, left, tries out a prosthetic limb as another waits at a rehabilitation center in Sana'a, Yemen, Nov. 7, 2018. According to reports, nearly two million Yemeni people are living with some type of disability, including almost seven thousand people who lost a limb or suffered some other severe injury since the ongoing conflict began in the Arab country in 2015. YAHYA ARHAB, EPA-EFE

A Yemeni woman holds a foot of her malnourished grandson as he receives medical attention at a malnutrition treatment center in Sana'a, Yemen, Nov. 16, 2018. According to reports, more than 11 million Yemeni children, which is about 80 percent of all children in war-torn Yemen, require humanitarian assistance, and an additional 1.8-2.8 million children are in acute food insecurity due to the ongoing conflict since 2015. YAHYA ARHAB, EPA-EFE

A Yemeni mother, Nadia Nahari, holds her five-year-old son Abdelrahman Manhash, who is suffering from severe malnutrition at a treatment clinic in the Khokha district in the western province of Hodeidah, on Nov. 22, 2018. As many as 85,000 infants under the age of five may have died from starvation or disease since 2015 in war-ravaged Yemen, humanitarian organization Save the Children said on Nov. 21, basing its estimate on UN-compiled data, which has warned that up to 14 million people are at risk of famine in Yemen where Saudi-backed forces are battling Iran-aligned Huthi rebels. AFP/Getty Images

“This is not an ally that deserves this kind of military intervention, especially because there’s been no connection between the safety of the American people and our involvement in this war,” Lee added.

Opponents of the war powers resolution say the Trump administration has the legal authority to support the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen – citing previous use-of-force authorizations that Congress approved in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and others have also argued the U.S. needs to be involved in Yemen to counter Iran, which is supporting the Houthi rebels in that country.

"I think it puts our alliances in jeopardy," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. said. He also argued that the U.S. role, which involves providing logistical assistance, munitions, and intelligence to the Saudi coalition, did not rise to the level of being engaged in warfare.

The war in Yemen is a proxy battle between Saudi Arabia and Iran, as the two regimes battle for influence in the region. In addition to the death toll, the conflict has put millions of Yemenis on the brink of starvation – increasing pressure on the Trump administration to wind down its involvement.

“It has exposed the Saudi government to be a brutal, despotic regime which will do anything to anybody to maintain its influence and power,” Sanders told USA TODAY. Sanders said Khashoggi’s death has won him additional “yes” votes on the Yemen resolution, though he declined to say how many or identify the lawmakers.

The last time the Senate voted to halt the U.S. military role in Yemen, in March, the measure was defeated by a vote of 44-to-55. At the time, the crown prince was at the White House meeting with Trump as part of a public-relations blitz by the 33-year-old crown prince across the country. Today, the Saudis face a more hostile political climate, with bipartisan anger over Khashoggi’s murder, deep skepticism of the crown prince’s denials, and growing unease over Yemen.

Even if the Lee-Sanders measure passes the Senate, it’s unlikely to clear the House, where the GOP majority recently blocked debate over a similar measure. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., co-sponsor of the House proposal, said a strong vote in the Senate would ramp up pressure on the Republican leadership to allow a vote, though he conceded it’s would be an uphill fight.

“If that doesn’t happen, we will in the next Congress be in a better position to move it forward,” Pocan said, noting that Democrats will have the majority come January. “We’re just on the cusp of doing the right thing,” he added.